It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me w
ith excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand. In the excerpt above, the word surmounted most nearly means _____.
a) mounted upon
b)gotten over or across
c)prevailed over
d)equaled in value
Various meanings of Surmount are; to surpass, to get better of, to lie on top of, to climb up and to place something on top of something else. In the above, the word surmounted most nearly means mounted upon. Example: The crossing is surmounted by a dome, and the church with a cross.
The Allies invaded the Mediterranean because they wanted to remove Italy from axis powers. Axis powers are nations that fought in the WW2 so they basically didn't want Italy to fight in the war.